News
Sunday, June 09, 2013
‘Half of world population develop cancer in lifetime’ISLAMABAD: The number of people across world who will get cancer during their lifetime will increase to nearly half the population by 2020, a report has forecast.
The Macmillan Cancer Support said this was likely to be an underestimate of the true risk facing people alive in 2020, as life expectancy increased and more people developed cancer.
To produce their figures, Macmillan used data on cancer incidence, cancer mortality and deaths from all causes across the UK. They collected figures on cancer survival rates too.
In 1992, 45,000 people, or 21 percent of those who had cancer, did not die from the disease.
This increased to around 90,000 in 2010 and is predicted to rise to four in 10 people surviving cancer and dying from another cause by 2020.
Macmillan puts the increased survival rates from cancer down to a greater focus on early diagnosis, advances in cancer treatments and better cancer care.
There are many factors that influence an individual’s risk of developing cancer.
Some factors cannot be controlled, such as age and family history. But risk factors related to lifestyle can be controlled, such as giving up smoking, keeping physically active and maintaining a healthy weight.
Around one in four cancers diagnosed in the UK could be avoided if people made changes to their lifestyles
Macmillan Cancer Support Chief Medical Officer Prof Jane Maher said, “Many patients can be left with physical health and emotional problems long after treatment have ended.
“People struggle with fatigue, pain, immobility, or an array of other troublesome side-effects.
Macmillan Cancer Support Chief Executive Ciaran Devane said the predicted cancer incidence figures posed a Herculean challenge for the NHS and for society.
Ciaran Devane said that two people in five would not die of their cancer.” The Royal College of General Practitioners’s Cancer specialist Prof Greg Rubin said the people are increasingly likely to survive cancer but a powerful reminder that survivors have complex needs that health services, particularly in primary care, will need to respond to. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk